The present invention relates to a system and method for improving cognitive1 and autonomic2 brain functions, and also to a system and method for reducing stress and/or pain. 1 Cognitive . . . of or pertaining to the mental processes of perception, memory, judgment, and reasoning, as contrasted with emotional and volitional processes.2 Autonomic (System) . . . system of nerves and ganglia (dense cluster of nerve cells) that innervates the blood vessels, heart, smooth muscles, viscera, and glands and controls their involuntary functions.
Medical research has shown that stress has an adverse effect on health, and sometimes very adverse. For example, stress by definition raises a person's blood pressure, and for those with hypertension, stress can make blood pressure dangerously high. Hypertension can increase the risk of a heart attack or stroke up to three or four times. Stress, raises heart rate. Stress also makes it hard to focus, and so can result in bad decisions at critical moments, a freeze-response and/or a fight/flight response. Further, teachers and others have struggled for ages to try to make students and others smarter and/or learn more and/or do better in school and/or other intellectual endeavors. A mind which is clear of rumination and/or stress can put one in a better condition to learn.